Electronic device manufacturers strive to produce a rich interface for users. Conventional devices use visual and auditory cues to provide feedback to a user. In some interface devices, kinesthetic feedback (such as active and resistive force feedback) and/or tactile feedback (such as vibration, texture, and heat) is also provided to the user, more generally known collectively as “haptic feedback.” Haptic feedback can provide cues that enhance and simplify the user interface. Specifically, vibration effects, or vibrotactile haptic effects, may be useful in providing cues to users of electronic devices to alert the user to specific events, or provide realistic feedback to create greater sensory immersion within a simulated or virtual environment.
Haptic feedback has also been increasingly incorporated in portable electronic devices, such as cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable gaming devices, and a variety of other portable electronic devices. For example, some portable gaming applications are capable of vibrating in a manner similar to control devices (e.g., joysticks, etc.) used with larger-scale gaming systems that are configured to provide haptic feedback. Additionally, devices such as cellular telephones and PDAs are capable of providing various alerts to users by way of vibrations. For example, a cellular telephone can alert a user to an incoming telephone call by vibrating. Similarly, a PDA can alert a user to a scheduled calendar item or provide a user with a reminder for a “to do” list item or calendar appointment.
Increasingly, portable devices are moving away from physical buttons in favor of touchscreen only interfaces. This shift allows increased flexibility, reduced parts count, and reduced dependence on failure-prone mechanical buttons and is in line with emerging trends in product design. When using the touchscreen input device, a mechanical confirmation on button press or other user interface action can be simulated with haptics.
Some known devices modify or generate haptic effects in real-time or “on the fly”. Although this allows a wide variety of haptic effects to be generated, it may require a substantial amount of processing power and may not facilitate rapid development of new devices because the wide variety of possible haptic effects must be compatible with the hardware interface of the device.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for an improved system and method for generating haptic effects for a device.